Stripe Your Stash to Make an Easy Blanket

I have this giant stash busting garter stitch blanket that I’ve been working on (if you can call it that) for probably 15 or 20 years by now. I’m not sure it’s correct to say I’m working on it, because it usually only comes out in the winter when I’m not working on anything else and I want to use it as a blanket while I’m knitting it.

While you are here, check out this Knitted Patchwork Blanket from our sister site.

It’s made of strips of garter stitch, but I’m joining them together as I knit them (by knitting the edge stitch on my needle together with the edge stitch on the previous strip). It’s a satisfying and relatively mindless way to use up scraps, and my goal is that it will one day be 6 feet square (1.8 meters). Hopefully sometime in the next 15 or 20 years!

If you want to make a simple blanket but don’t want to have to lug around the whole thing as you work on it, the striped blanket from The Knitting Squirrel is a great option.

It, too, is made of odd balls and garter stitch, but this one is done in panels that aren’t joined until they are done. (And the way that’s done is pretty clever, too!) This one is done in sock yarn that was made into magic balls before knitting, but you could use whatever yarn you have a lot of and either make the panels narrower or make fewer of them, or just make your blanket whatever size works for you.

Read more about magic balls here if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

My version is worsted weight and alternates between panels of 12 and 24 stitches, so that’s also an option you could try to mix the colors up even more.

Check out the free pattern at The Knitting Squirrel for all the details.

[Photo: The Knitting Squirrel]

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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